MB03+ Ultimate – The ultimate expansion for your ZX Spectrum

From the Czech
Republic comes a new super-expansion for all
ZX Spectrum models. It is the brainchild of Jan Kucera. Introducing his hobby
project: MB03+ Ultimate.

Introduction

Jan's history with the ZX Spectrum began in a whole ‘nother
era, during the Cold War when the Czech Republic
was Czechoslovakia.
History aside, technology innovation thrived in the nation. Didaktik produced
some of the most notable Sinclair ZX Spectrum clones, many that are collectible
and still desired today. In 1986 Jan saw his first Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K
with rubber keys. Soon after He got his own Didaktik Gama (Czech, English). Kucera then upgraded to the grey ZX Spectrum +2 - which he still uses to
this day!

Jan Kucera

One device to rule them
all - MB03+ Ultimate

The cryptically named expansion (long story and legacy, too
long!), offers some amazing features, many of which have never been combined in
this particular way before. It aims to offer integration of all ZX
Spectrum expansions and interfaces into one device.

Sure, individually we have seen mass storage devices, sound
card expansions, mouse adapters, joystick interfaces and video output adapters,
etc, before. But the ZX Spectrum only offers one ZX Bus in the form of the edge
connector. The MB03+ Ultimate to the rescue! Inside its very powerful FPGA,
which implements all the devices virtually, side by side, all running at the
same time. Thus in one expansion, one single physical device plugged into your
ZX Spectrum, you can have all the expansions that you ever dreamt of. Not bad.

Then and now.

And what's even better, its large FPGA still has plenty of room
left for further virtualizations. So far only 25% of its capacity is utilized.
Let the development begin.

Features and
functionality

Let's go over MB03+ Ultimate’s currently supported features:

-General Sound. Sound interface which allows you
to play a smaller selection of games with sample based music and effects.
(partial list of GS-supported games here). You can also use it to play .MOD-files, a popular sound-format known from Commodore Amiga and PC. As all devices
exist side by side, you can easily launch a MOD-file and let it play in the
background while you’re playing your favorite ZX Spectrum game.

-DivMMC. From the boot-screen you can choose to
jump right into regular DivMMC with ESXDOS. For your convenience there are two physical micro sd-slots in the MB03+
Ultimate. Or, instead, from the boot-screen, you can choose to boot into BSDOS
and access the CF-Card in the physical CompactFlash (IDE) card slot. There is
also an ESXDOS for DivIDE, which can also be used to access the CF-card. ESXDOS
even has support for DMA (direct memory access) file transfer on both MMC or
IDE. Advanced users can switch between BSDOS and ESXDOS via two simple OUT
commands.

-Mini-jack stereo sound output. You take all
audio from here, while you grab the picture from your normal ZX Spectrum video
output, be it RF, composite or RGB (depending on your ZX model and
modifications). The virtualized sound expansions won’t automatically be routed
through your video connection, as they only exist in the MB03+ Ultimate. So
audio out must be taken from the mini-jack. (Digital video output is currently
being developed, more on that further below.)

MB03+ Ultimate on a +2A

-Two USB-ports. One of which you can plug in a
standard USB-mouse that then acts as the somewhat widespread Kempston Mouse Standard
(partial list of mouse-supported games here). The
other USB-port can be used to interface with a PC. Further future uses of the
USB-ports (USB2.0) are possible, such as USB-joypads and keyboards.

-DB9 joystick port. Plug in your favorite
atari-standard joystick. I personally just used a Sega Master System joypad.

-MB03+ Ultimate is powered by the ZX Spectrum! No
need for external power supply unit. This is a huge plus in my humble opinion,
as there is nothing more annoying than expansions that requires their own PSU.

-LED matrix display for cool-factor. Works as a
typical audio VU-meter during normal operation. Displays greeting on boot

-RTC – real time clock.

-Additional features: Optional Wi-Fi module.
Theoretically it should be possible to do a over the air (OTA) firmware upgrade
without the use of a PC. IRC (inter relay chat) and file downloads (games,
let's be honest..) are also a very distinct possibility. Check out some of the Wi-Fi developments here. Note. The Wi-Fi module is optional. The wifi module can also be replaced with
an UART – RS232 module.

The hardware and the case

Design and feel

The MB03+ Ultimate comes beautifully packaged. Every accessory
is included in the package, and the unit comes fully loaded with both micro
SD-cards and CF-card. There are printed manuals, USB-mouse, DisplayPort
to HDMI cable, as well as the original packaging from the mass storage cards
included. It is a true delight to unbox the wealth of extras.

The MB03+ Ultimate comes housed in a beautifully 3D-printed
white case. The texture of the case, as well as the three physical buttons,
‘Reset’, ‘Extra’ and ‘NMI’, has an unparalleled quality to them. Often, in my
experience, 3D-printed cased can look like ridiculous melted cheese, but this
team have used a top notch high-end 3D-printer. The raised logo and design is
also of a particular good quality. They don’t cut corner in the quality
department.

Led matrix

Gimmicky or not, MB03+ Ultimate has a LED Matrix consisting of
an 8x8 dot grid. On boot you get a nice greeting message rolling across the
display. And during normal ZX use, it functions as a VU-meter. I’m not into
kitsch, or for that matter putting LED strips into my PC etc, but the LED
Matrix ended up giving everything that extra punch. In other words; I loved it.

Future

MB03+ Ultimate is in very active development. Here are some of
the plans for the future:

-Digital video output through its built-in display
port. Through the included DisplayPort to HDMI cable
you can hook the MB03+ Ultimate up to a regular HDMI-display. Upon reading the development blog progress is looking good, and at the time of writing HDMI works on
128k/+2/+2A/+3 and Harlequin128 2D. ULA+ mode will also come along with the
launch of digital video output, as well as text mode and modes from the SAM
Coupé. It is planned to be easy to use through a simple setup application.

-The MB03+ Ultimate team is working together with
several partners. ESXDOS-creator Miguel Guerreiro of Papaya Dezign is working
on expanded ESXDOS features, such as the long awaited long file name (LFN)
support. Busysoft is developing a new BSDOS, which is a Czech disk operating
system (DOS).

MB03+ Ultimate on a +2

Experience
The manual, which is being updated steadily, forces you into
the different areas of the MB03+ Ultimate. It was pedagogical, and trying out
the different features was very interesting and a fun time. BSDOS isn’t exactly
my preferred mode, I much prefer using the joystick to select stuff from menus,
like in ESXDOS, but it did seem like a really solid DOS. Jan Kucera explained to me that ESXDOS is handy for running
games and demos, whereas BSDOS is more useful for coders and developers. BSDOS
is twice as fast, andit has a rich
software library.

Batty with mouse and sampled sounds

My personal absolute highlight was playing the game Batty
(breakout clone) with a mouse, while enjoying the digital audio from the game.
Playing mouse-supported shmups comes in as second most fun. I will find it hard
to ever go back to playing these games with joystick again! (Amazingly many new
games are released with mouse-support, just check out the releases from Yandex
Retro Games Battle 2019!)

If you can afford an MB03+ Ultimate, then of course I would recommend anyone
getting one. In all honesty, and I’m not being paid to write this, but it is
the ultimate ZX Spectrum expansion. At the time of writing there are 15 in
stock.

Transparency

View from above

I didn't purchase the device, but was kindly lent a unit for
review. I am a basic ZX-user that likes to play games and watch demos. I can't
code, and I'm ignorant to many of the additional great features that MB03+
Ultimate offers users, hereunder Z80-DMA, DivIDE, MBIDE, math co-processor LCU
and much more. I’m sorry, but I am who I am, and I won’t pretend to know what
they actually do. Real hardcore ZX Spectrum tech experts will eventually have
to cover those features in future reviews. I’ve only personally tested the
MB03+ Ultimate on a Harlequin 128 2D board, with a 128k ROM and kempston
disabled.

* Optional WiFi ESP8266 - wifi module. (Two coders are
currently working on software for the wifi-module. At the moment of writing
this, it is possible to download files from HTTP-servers, synchronize time and
communicating with the module via AT command. They plan to use Spectranet
servers for software downloads.)

* 2x USB ports, one for user friendly firmware update,
second for K-Mouse